Grade 5 at GEMS World Academy needed to learn about Newton’s Law, and the fact that what goes up, must come down. Dave Gerber, Primary Years Programme Coordinator had an idea – why not arrange a trip to indoor trampoline park, Bounce?

‘We wanted to go somewhere where they could apply their knowledge,’ said Dave. ‘They were looking at when you go up, you also go down, plus the science involved in springs and of course, Newton’s Law.’

Bounce opened in Al Quoz in June 2014. The concept comes from Melbourne in Australia, with eight venues in total across the country. Since opening in Dubai, there are plans to open more parks worldwide, including one in Johannesburg.

Dave explained that the trip wasn’t for exercise purposes, rather, it was to ‘solidify their understanding’ at the end of a six week unit of enquiry, as part of the IB curriculum.

What did the class think? The teachers that attended all felt it helped the students to understand this part of physics, and that it would be good to go back with another group.

In the time since GEMS World Academy’s visit, Bounce has now set up a ‘Forces and Motion’ module inline with the school curriculum where the kids experience first-hand the effects of potential and kinetic energy and explain Newton’s principles that for every action (force) there is an equal and opposite reaction (force). Doran Davies, co-owner of Bounce is pleased with the amount of interest it has generated, ‘Since setting up the initiative, we have had around 20-25 school group bookings for “Forces and Motion”.

‘It is something a bit different. School groups are very important to us and it is a way of injecting something educational into a school trip.’

Doran explains that when a school group arrives, they are split into groups, each of which is hosted by a Bounce referee. The referee then explains the effects of gravity, kinetic energy and equal and opposing forces. After this, the whole group comes together and the referees put on a showcase for the kids in the performance area. The students are asked questions about what they have learnt, and as Doran says, ‘hopefully they will have remembered what they have been taught!’.

‘We have had fantastic feedback and have even made video testimonials afterwards for the schools groups to keep,’ said Doran.

‘Our challenge now is to widen the net in terms of education. We’d love to do something that looks at the human body and anatomy, as well as teaching children about the benefits of cardiovascular exercise.’Visit www.bounce.ae for more info.